Lilith ([email protected])
Tue, 3 Nov 1998 01:03:35 -0500
However one feels about European Union, I am sure that your argument could
have been made without disparaging references to other countries' histories
and _democratically-elected_ officials, and the puffed-up patriotism towards
your own country could have been dispensed with as well.
You said:
<<No thank you! Britain has a fine economy, and I have no wish to
see the comparitively unstable and poverty ridden states, like
Portugal, the Irish Republic, and Italy prop themselves up at the
expense of the British taxpayer!! >>
For one thing, I was not aware that the Republic of Ireland was a
politically unstable state; no more so than a country that seems to swing
regularly between Tory and Labour governments as does the UK, or as a matter
of fact no more so than my own country (the USA) which has been more or less
alternating between two parties for some time now. Perhaps in your mind you
are thinking of the countries that you named as being politically unstable
because none of them have a monarchy?
<<I have no wish to see our history and culture run roughshod over by
faceless men in Brussels, finally to be outlawed by some Euro
diktat as being too politically incorrect! >>
I have no idea what this refers to -- these "faceless men in Brussels" seem
like a paranoid fantasy. Surely the European Union supporters are not
"faceless men" in smoke-filled back rooms going "Aha! We weel deestroy thee
culture of theez snooty Breets! We weel force theem to putt strange sauces
on their roast beef, theen we weel outlaw afternoon tea! And theen, we weel
arrest thee Spice Gairls and put theem to work een brothels een Madrid!
MWAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA!!!!!!!"
<<Britain helped liberate Europe from one form of pan-european unity
or another in two world wars>>
<snip blah Nazis blah>
<<It was British and American troops that gave
notice to communist aggression in Berlin, guaranteeing peace
through strength. >>
"Peace through strength"?? Isn't that what every fascist and totalitarian
government claimed to be doing when they rolled in their tanks? And I am
sure that the rest of Europe doesn't mind being reminded only about
183,959,340,580 times a day how the Allies Saved Them in WW2. Such an
approach truly opens minds to the rest of your arguments.
<<I notice it is the nations with a history of fascism and expansionism
which seek to promote European unity!! To suggest Euro unity is
to insult the memories of those courageous British, American and
also Soviet servicemen who died liberating Europe from Nazism
and Fascism. >>
So it is better for the nations of Europe to remain apart and squabbling?
And Great Britain has _never_ had any aggresion and expansionism in its
history, right? Well, there _were_ those little adventures in the Americas,
India, Africa....but the British were just there to make sure the trains got
running on time properly, right? That American Revolution was just a little
dust-up over a _misunderstanding_, and all was quickly set to rights with a
hearty handshake and a cuppa tea! The peoples of India were never treated
like stupid children and called "blacks" and "darkies" in their own country.
It wasn't the British (and the Germans and the Dutch and the French, etc.)
who carved up Africa between them, leaving the continent with a wonderful
legacy of hands-on, take-charge meddling, one of the after-effects being the
recent massacre in Rwanda.
And let's not even get started on the British treatment of Ireland. No, the
merry Englishman has throughout history been an inoffensive, stay-at-home,
quietly prosperous gentleman, content to let those "other" countries work
out their peculiar problems on their own, all without any interference from
the UK!
<<I find it hard to take this appeal seriously from a country which
elects porn stars and descendents of Benito Mussolini to its
Parliament, or elects corrupt football club/newspaper owners, such
as Berlusconi, as Prime Minister. >>
Those funny foreigners and their funny ways! We know, of course of the
matchless moral quality of Britain's government figures. We won't mention
little indiscretions like the Profumo Scandal, nor even go _into_ the
shenanigans at Buckingham Palace! (Not to mention the naughty escapades of
theprevious members of the royal family - my favorite is "Queen" James, or
so I believe he was known in Shakespeare's time.) Oh, but you can't unelect
your royals, can you - the best you can do is hope that they will have the
grace to abdicate if they act really unpleasingly.
<<The sooner Britain leaves the polite political tyranny of the EU
(they've told us and we British have accepted such ludicrous
diktats as how to make ice-cream the Euro way!! In 1978!), and
rejoins its traditional, cultural allies of the USA, the Commonwealth
(Canada, Australia, new Zealand, South Africa), the better for we
freedom lovers of these islands. >>
Messing with ice cream! Now, that is really tyranny in a nutshell! First
they go for your ice cream, the next thing you know your daughters and sons
are slaving in the hot fields (well, it's Europe - the cold, damp fields)
for the Faceless Continental Hordes!
<<European unity means attemting to impose a bland sameness to a
continent of varied languages and cultures.>>
"Bland sameness"? Is everyone going to be forced to eat British "food"?
(Yes, I've been to England and I've dined upon "traditional British fare,"
including those hard-boiled egg sandwiches that they serve at the railway
stations.)
<<Why else did Britain adopt "splendid isolation" throughout the 19th
century?! >>
Hmm, the sort of "splendid isolation" that sent emissaries and armies of
England into every corner of the globe? That is a new defintion of
"isolation."
<<God save us from interfering Eurocrats with no more idea of history
than most Irish Americans!!! >>
Then for some reason you decide to insult Irish-Americans, who were not part
of this issue....
<<Britons never, never, never will be slaves!! >>
Because they have been too good at enslaving others?
In conclusion, Stephen, you could have produced a reasoned, dispassionate
argument against European Unity. Instead you presented a rant composed of
kneejerk patriotic rantings and undigested half-truths. I give your post
low marks.
Lilith
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